


Pretend to Drown

by sunwoo



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Lifeguards, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 21:32:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14505888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunwoo/pseuds/sunwoo
Summary: Renjun and Donghyuck hadn’t even thought that there could be another lifeguard at their neighborhood pool, and Renjun just thinks that the lifeguard is cute.





	Pretend to Drown

“Why do we have to come today?” Renjun sighed loudly, his flip-flops making annoyingly loud sounds on the pavement as he walked beside him. “I have homework, Donghyuck.”

“Oh, yes, mister goody two-shoes wants to go do homework,” Donghyuck turned to look at Renjun and stuck out his tongue. “The weather’s nice today. We can’t _not_ go to the pool. Relax.”

Renjun rolled his eyes. He never fully understood why Donghyuck thought he was weird for actually caring about his education; there really was not anything wrong with wanting to receive good grades. His grip on his baby blue towel tightened as they turned the corner, coming face to face with the neighborhood pool fence. It was unlocked and wide open, so it was clear that the pool was open today, and the two boys walked inside.

First off, there were not many people, so that made Renjun feel a little bit better. Renjun did not like crowded public places, which is why he has never been to the shopping mall. Second, their usual spot across from the lifeguard spot was not taken, and that made Renjun quite happy.

Renjun wasn’t a boy full of fears, like his friend Jaemin was (Jaemin had once seen a ladybug at the park, screamed, ran down the stairs, tripped halfway down, and fell onto the cement, still yelling about the supposedly terrifying bug), but he was incredibly afraid of the lifeguard.

Every Sunday, he and Donghyuck would go to the neighborhood pool, and the lifeguard, whose name he had once found out to be Joy, would strangely watch them and yell at them if they walked too fast near the edge of the pool or played around too much, and she did that by watching all the people at the pool with such a pissed face, that Donghyuck had decided to call her Pissy Face a few weeks ago.

Renjun felt a bit more comfortable sitting as far away as possible from the lifeguard spot, especially since the sun got in the way, so neither of them would be able to directly look at each other, so when he saw that the spot was open, he immediately sat down and patted the seat next to him for Donghyuck to sit in.

Donghyuck followed him and Renjun took a second to look at how the chairs were slightly more tilted to the left than usual. He knew that that would’ve made Pissy Face mad. Renjun wasn’t a stalker or anything; he was just very observant and knew that the terrifying lifeguard hated when things weren’t perfectly placed.

Two months ago, when he and Donghyuck were swimming in the pool like they usually did, they had witnessed Pissy Face yell at a poor boy for leaving his towel on the ground. All the visual marks Renjun remembered were that he had blue hair and was definitely a few years younger than them, but he couldn’t help to feel bad for him again when he remembered how he ran home barefoot, leaving behind his tennis shoes after he was yelled at.

“I’m glad Pissy Face isn’t here,” Donghyuck said, beginning to take off his shoes. Renjun mildly cringed as he noticed which shoes Donghyuck was wearing.

Earlier in the year, there was a 2-for-1 special at their favorite shoe store, so Donghyuck had insisted that they had to get matching shoes, or he’d die, so, of course, Renjun agreed. They weren’t ugly shoes; they were a nice navy blue color with white stripes adorning the sides, but Renjun didn’t necessarily like wearing them the same days Donghyuck did. Not because it was embarrassing, but because they wore the same shoe size, so they’d probably get mixed up when they went out, and the idea of wearing someone else’s shoes made Renjun feel uneasy.

“Me too.” Renjun was about to make a joke about how if he had seen her there, he would’ve ran back home, similarly to the blue-haired boy, but as soon as he was opening his mouth to speak, he heard the door of the building behind the pool open.

Renjun turned around and saw a boy around his and Donghyuck’s age walk out. The first thing Renjun noticed was that the boy wasn’t wearing a shirt, and he had a familiar red whistle around his neck. He immediately realized that this boy was the lifeguard, and it had not come to Renjun’s mind until that moment, that Pissy Face probably was not the only lifeguard working at the pool.

The boy noticed Renjun’s staring and gave him a nod, which Renjun returned. The boy kept walking, and Renjun’s thinking was quickly interrupted by Donghyuck hitting his arm.

“Who’s that?” Donghyuck asked, watching the boy, just as Renjun had done moments prior.

Renjun rolled his eyes. “Don’t you think that if I _knew_ who he was, I wouldn’t be staring at him trying to figure it out, too?”

Donghyuck turned to his friend and smiled. “Ooh, you’re staring!”

“Donghyuck!” Renjun yelled, a lot louder than he had intended, making him feel his face grow hot by the second. “Be more quiet, okay?”

“But you were staring at him, Renjunie! That can only mean one thing,” Donghyuck paused. Renjun gulped as he waited for what he was going to see, but Donghyuck ended up saying that “it means you like the color of his shorts.”

Renjun’s shoulders slumped in relief. “Oh. I thought you were going to say you think I like him.”

Donghyuck’s eyes widened as Renjun spoke. “So you do like him!”

“Hyuck, you did that on purpose! You knew I’d fall for it,” Renjun hit Donghyuck’s side, and Donghyuck pretended to be gravely hurt. He held his side as he slowly fell off the chair, earning a small laugh from Renjun.

“Hyuck, now stop it, alright? I don’t want him hearing your nonsense,” Renjun said, and Donghyuck shrugged his shoulders.

Renjun slid off his flip-flops, testing how hot or cold the marble floor was with his left foot. It was really warm, which actually made sense since the sun was practically burning them, too. He waited for Donghyuck to take off his socks, and they both headed for the edge of the pool.

They both got into the water, causing Renjun to shiver a bit because of how cold the water was. “Why’s the water freezing?”

“Probably so we don’t burn to death,” Donghyuck said, throwing water in Renjun’s direction with both of his hands.

“Well, now we’re going to freeze to death,” Renjun said, attempting to throw water back at him but failing.

He took the chance to look around to see the few other people around them. He saw Donghyuck do the same in the corner of his eye, and they both saw a boy sitting under a tree in the corner, at the same time.

“Isn’t that Lee Minhyung?” Renjun asked. He wasn’t completely sure, but he had seen Minhyung a few times around the school, and he did know that he was a year older, so he’d be graduating soon.

“Yep,” Donghyuck nodded. “He’s cute.”

Renjun immediately turned to him, and Donghyuck shrugged his shoulders. “What? He is. Especially after he dyed his hair.”

Renjun considered making fun of him, but he knew that it would only give Donghyuck more of a reason to make fun of him back whenever they brought up the new lifeguard. “Go talk to him. He might like you. I heard he likes annoying and stupid boys.”

“Haha, very funny, Renjun,” Donghyuck fake laughed. “I‘m going anyways, but not because you told me to, but because I want to.”

Renjun offered his hand to help Donghyuck out of the pool, which Donghyuck took. Renjun watched as he walked over to where Minhyung sat. Minhyung looked up from the book he was reading, and Renjun saw Donghyuck smile down at him, making Minhyung begin to look nervous. He couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but considering Donghyuck didn’t come back for five minutes, he knew nothing terribly bad had happened.

He did see Minhyung shyly scratch the back of his neck, though, as Donghyuck smiled at him for the second time, and soon after, he waved at Donghyuck as he walked back to the pool where he was moments ago.

Donghyuck jumped in next to Renjun, causing for water to splash him in the face. Renjun screamed as Donghyuck laughed and pushed him.

“I asked him on a date,” Donghyuck stated.

“And?” Renjun asked, genuinely curious.

“He said yes, but he also said he’s never been on a date before, which is weird, but it’ll be fun,” Donghyuck said, smiling, as Renjun stared at him blankly.

“You’ve never been on a date either, Lee Donghyuck,” Renjun said, and Donghyuck playfully rolled his eyes.

“Well, yeah! But I thought since he was older, he might’ve been on a few or something… Don’t make me think about it, Huang Renjun. You know I’m not good at that.”

“Okay, okay,” Renjun said. He wanted to change the subject before Donghyuck brought up something he didn't want to talk about. “So… how was that math test?”

“Huh? Oh, it was fine. I’m expecting a passing grade, at least.” Renjun nodded and rested one of his arms on the edge of the pool.

There was a comfortable silence after that that only lasted a few seconds, which was interrupted by Donghyuck’s loud whispering. “Renjun don’t look now, but the lifeguard you like is looking at you.”

Renjun froze, “Right now?”

“No, yesterday,” Donghyuck said sarcastically, before raising his whispering to a level which probably shouldn’t even be considered actual whispering. “Yes, I mean right now. He’s still doing it. Renjunie, a boy’s looking at you!”

“God, Donghyuck, stop before you start yelling,” Renjun whispered, still too afraid to turn around.

Donghyuck leaned over. “Pretend to drown so he comes over,” he said, and Renjun kicked his leg under the water instinctively.

Donghyuck only giggled, and Renjun felt like saying something to him, maybe teasing him about Minhyung or plainly asking him to stop, but he didn’t. As much as Donghyuck annoyed him, he realized that it wasn’t horrible; he did enjoy it a bit, more than he’d like to admit out loud, but he really did like it.

Later that afternoon, Renjun did end up doing the homework he was thinking about while walking to the pool. He realized that he did need to relax a bit more, like Donghyuck had told him. This caused for him to be the one asking Donghyuck if he was free every Monday to go to the pool every week after that, which surprised Donghyuck at first but made him glad over time. He was happy that Renjun was starting to become more loose with his studies and life, like he was.

Renjun liked going to the pool on Mondays, and they both came to the decision of going on Mondays instead of on Sundays. Donghyuck’s comments about the lifeguard, whose name they found out to be Lee Jeno when eavesdropping on a conversation between Jeno and his manager, only grew over time as Renjun continued to act shy around him.

It was on a particular Monday afternoon, right after school, when Renjun had called Donghyuck, asking if they could go to the pool again, but Donghyuck couldn’t go; he said he didn’t feel very well and probably had caught some sort of stomach virus from the school’s lunch.

That meant Renjun had to alone. Thankfully, their neighborhood was pretty safe, so he’d be fine walking to and from the pool by himself, but the embarrassment of going to the pool on his own would probably eat him alive soon enough.

Besides that, winter was nearing, so it was a lot colder than before. Renjun had never noticed how soothing the wind sounded against the trees and how beautiful the clouds looked in the sky, which was probably because of Donghyuck’s annoying, loud voice always trying to get his attention when they were together. The entire walk to the pool was quiet, and when he got to the fence of the pool, the creaking of the nails bothered him.

It wasn’t very crowded; he and Donghyuck had already learned that a lot of people didn’t go to the pool on Monday afternoons. The two had just assumed that it was because most people did not have as much time to go out and have fun on weekdays, in comparison to having a lot of spare time on the weekends.

Jeno was walking around, making sure the chairs weren’t too close to the pool and the plants weren’t close to tipping over. He immediately noticed Renjun and the fact that he didn’t walk in with Donghyuck like he always had. Jeno tilted his head in what seemed to be some sort of confusion, making Renjun quickly walk over to the usual chair and sit down out of embarrassment.

Renjun thought that if he quickly jumped into the pool, Jeno would leave him alone and go back to work, but unfortunately for him, Jeno didn’t.

“Where’s your friend?” Jeno asked, startling Renjun. Renjun didn’t even hear him approach him, and for a split second, he considered the thought that Jeno had some sort of magic.

He gulped. “He’s sick. Couldn’t make it to the pool today.”

Jeno nodded, paused for a moment, and then sat down on the edge of the pool next to Renjun. “I’ll keep you company so you don’t get lonely.”

Renjun felt his face grow red as he began fidgeting with his hands, thankfully underwater. “I… that’s okay. I’ll be fine on my own.”

“You sure?” Jeno asked. He then smiled as he said, “I think you’d like to be around your crush for the day.”

Renjun turned to Jeno quickly, and his eyes widened as he realized Jeno was staring right back at him. “My crush?”

“Oh, Renjun, I think it’s pretty obvious you like me. I hear you and your friend talk about it all the time. He’s really loud, you know?” Jeno asked, continuing to smile.

“You know my name?” Renjun asked, much quieter than he intended for it to sound.

“Like I said, he’s very loud,” Jeno paused, and then tilted his head again as he added: “That isn’t too weird, right? I’m so sorry. It probably was really weird that I said your name like that.”

Renjun mentally facepalmed as he thought about all the things other people, including Jeno, have heard when he’s around Donghyuck. Renjun wondered if their physics teacher heard them call her new hairstyle a ‘disgrace to humankind.’ if Jaemin heard them call him a loser all those times he lost at Mario Kart, and if his mother heard Donghyuck say she looks old.

Jeno overhearing his and Donghyuck’s conversations about him made Renjun want to cringe, but he tried not to think about it too hard.

“It’s okay. If it makes you feel any less weird about it, I know your name, too, Jeno,” Renjun said, and Jeno thought for a moment before speaking again.

“Okay, well, how about we start over? Let’s introduce ourselves,” Jeno smiled and said, “I’m Jeno.”

“I’m Renjun,” Renjun said and returned a smile. “This is really, really nice and all, but you should get back to work. I don’t want you getting in trouble because of me.”

Jeno shook his head in disagreement. “No, don’t worry about it. No one drowns here anyways.”

Renjun suddenly remembered what Donghyuck had said to him a few weeks earlier, so before his brain could even think of all the possible outcomes of what could go wrong with what he was about to do, he held his breath and fully submerged himself into the water.

He suddenly rose back up to the surface, dramatically gasping for air. “Help! I’m drowning!” Renjun yelled, immediately going underwater again.

Jeno laughed and attempted to play along. “Uh… what do I do?! He’s drowning! Oh, no! Oh, gosh!”

Renjun rose up again and looked at Jeno. “You’re really bad at acting.”

“Maybe that’s why I’m a lifeguard and not in the school play,” Jeno paused. “I would make a good Romeo, though.”

“No,” Renjun swam a bit closer to where Jeno was still sitting. “You wouldn’t. If anything, you’re more of a Paris.”

“If I pretend I know who you’re talking about, will you let me keep you more company?”

Renjun pretended to think about it for a moment, looking down at the clouds’ reflections in the water. “Nope,” and with that, he was pretending to drown again. This time, he took longer to rise back up, which he hoped made Jeno take it as a hint.

Jeno jumped into the water, slowly moving around at first. When Renjun rose up, he immediately grabbed him by the shoulders and looked at him with a smile. “Got you!”

Renjun saw Jeno’s cute smile closer than before and suddenly grew embarrassed again. “What? Was that supposed to make me stop drowning?”

Jeno nodded. “I saved you, Renjun,” he said, putting his arm around his waist, which caused for Renjun to let out a yelp and push Jeno away.

“Stop! I’m ticklish!” Renjun said. He hoped he sounded serious enough to Jeno, but Jeno just tilted his head and asked, “Ticklish?”

Before Renjun could even think about what he had just done, Jeno swam over to him and began to tickle him all over his waist and stomach as Renjun burst into a fit of giggles. Renjun giggling only made Jeno giggle too, and before they knew it they were in the corner of the pool, as Jeno continued to be pushed away.

Just when Renjun thought he couldn’t handle it anymore, Jeno stopped and yelled, “Okay, okay, I’m done!”

Renjun pushed Jeno one more time and sighed loudly. “I could’ve died! I could’ve died of… laughing too much or something!”

“Really?” Jeno laughed. “Considering how many times you almost died today, I don’t think so.”

Renjun stated at him playfully. “Don’t be smart, Jeno.”

Jeno smiled at that, and a silence followed. Renjun felt the pool wall on his back, making him shiver a bit too noticeably. Jeno saw him and swam over to be closer to him.

“Are you cold?” Jeno asked. Renjun looked over at him, and he swore he could see every little detail in his eyes as he did so.

“N-no… well, maybe a little,” Renjun stuttered.

Jeno didn’t say anything for a moment, and Renjun thought about why Jeno had even asked him that question if he wasn’t going to do anything about it, but just then, Jeno’s voice spoke to him. “You know, you’re a lot more beautiful up close like this, Renjun.”

Renjun felt his face grow red again, and all the nervousness about talking to Jeno from earlier had returned all at once. “I am?”

Jeno’s head tilted slightly to the right as he answered. “You are. You know that, right? I really don’t want to drive you away by saying all this, but you really are, Renjun. You have the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen and an even more beautiful personality.”

Renjun felt as if he was dreaming. If it weren’t for the cold pool wall still against his back, he would be completely convinced that he was going to wake up any second now for school.

“I… I really—” Renjun started but was cut off by Jeno pressing his lips onto his. It’s a short kiss, but Renjun’s heart was beating faster than it ever had before (even more than that time a dog chased him and Donghyuck out of their own neighborhood).

When Jeno pulled back, he quickly examined Renjun’s face, looking for any sign of disgust or fear, but all Jeno found is Renjun’s cute, little smile.

Renjun wanted to hold Jeno for the first time, but he knew that they were both cold, shirtless, and in a public pool, so all he did was quickly press another short kiss onto Jeno’s lips and swim over to the edge of the pool to get out.

“Hey, where are you going?” Jeno asked. His voice sounded a bit disappointed, and Renjun couldn’t help but feel a little bit bad for leaving so suddenly.

“Home. It’s getting late, Jeno,” Renjun walked over to where his things were and turned around to look at the boy.

Jeno looked up at the sky, and the moon’s light was clearly showing through the misty clouds. “Hadn’t even noticed the moon was out. Must’ve been because I just saw the whole galaxy in your eyes.”

Renjun cringed at Jeno’s flirting. “Ugh, Jeno!” he yelled. Jeno just gave him a wink at that.

“But, hold on, I’m walking you home,” Jeno said, about to get out of the pool like Renjun did just moments before.

As if Renjun’s brain hadn’t already come up with a lot of crazy ideas that night, he smiled, and while slipping on his shoes quickly, he yelled, “Race you to the corner!”

Renjun sprinted out of Jeno’s sight and passed the gate before hearing a “shoot!” come from Jeno. He could hear Jeno struggling to find some shoes to put on, and Renjun slowed down a little so that Jeno could catch up a bit, but as soon as Jeno appeared behind him, Renjun began to run again. He ran at a steady pace that Jeno eventually caught up to after a few seconds, and when Renjun looked over at him running next to him and laughing, he felt like the happiest boy in the world.


End file.
